The Gay Community Has
To Blame Itself Too

As
I sit here at my desk day after day reading the news stories that streak
across the news pages of various web sites and newspapers that I read, I
become more and more angry each day. Within the last week or so, I have
read stories about:

A jury in Kentucky rejecting a charge of murder for a man who confessed
to beating and strangling a gay man and then stuffing his body into a
suitcase, and then casting it upon the waters of a lake. Even though the
accused murderer confessed to an Aunt that he intentionally lured a gay
man to his hotel room where he had planned to kill the victim, because
of a "steaming anger" towards gay men. Defense counsel argued to the jury
that the killer was "privileged to do" what he did to the victim because
the victim made a sexual advance to the killer. The victim was put on
trial for being a gay man rather then the killer being convicted for premeditated
murder. The Attorney went on to tell the jury that the killer had "the
right under Kentucky law to fight back to protect himself from being raped
or sodomized with the use of deadly force, and would do so again."

In another murder case, a gay man was killed after he and another man
had sex in Wisconsin. The killer's defense Attorney is using the "gay
panic" defense as a reason for the killing, and that the killer was no
longer confused about his sexuality because he had started a relationship
with a "14 year old girl." The defense is also claiming temporary insanity
and that the killer should not be held accountable for the crime. Apparently
having consensual oral sex with another man in Wisconsin is justification
for using a shotgun a "few hours later" and after shooting the victim
in the back of the head with the shotgun, stabbing the victim. It is the
claim of the prosecution that the killer wanted "to see how it felt to
kill the victim and to see if he can get away with it."

In the great Commonwealth of Virginia, that bastion of liberty and love,
the House of delegates passed a bill that will allow license plates to
extol traditional marriage. The plates would carry the message, "Traditional
Marriage." Now how could that simple message make anyone feel bad? Secondly,
the school board of Fairfax Virginia has ordered all schools to host "ex-gay
speakers" in the schools so that the students could be "offered a choice"
instead of being exposed to the "very destructive lifestyle" of the gay
community. Offered a choice? Is that like choosing to order the pizza
or the mystery meat at lunch? Don't they get that being or not being gay
is not chosen? Obviously not.

Two of our public broadcasting networks, CBS and NBC, recently refused
to carry a message from the United Church of Christ that advocated inclusion
of all people within the confines of their church. How could this 30 second
message possibly be offensive to anyone? Isn't the message of Christ one
of inclusion? Well, it seems that since gay people were obviously welcomed
in the UCC, these two networks just couldn't stand to air any ad that
preached tolerance and love. Why CBS even cited George W. Bush and his
renewed attack on the LGBT community via the United States Constitution
as a reason not to air the ad, least they offend the right-wing white
house.

In the state of Texas, another shining star of tolerance, we once again
find another Christian institution expelling a gay Christian student from
High School. His offense one might ask? He created a web site targeted
to support gay youth. This was all it took for the Trinity "Christian"
Academy to not only expel 18 year old James Barnett, but to out him to
his parents. This then has led to his possible expulsion from his family
home as well as from his high school because the parents don't like the
publicity they are receiving. More of that Christian love can be seen
in this move also...

And of course ABC did not want to be left out of the race of the networks
to see who could seem the most gay unfriendly amongst the "big three."
ABC news program 20/20 disturbed the grave and peace of Matthew Shepard,
to show it too was willing to appease the religious right and Washington
D.C. fascists by ripping open a wound that has yet to close from the day
that Matthew was murdered. In an Advocate.com exclusive, it was revealed
that the producers of this segment had made up their minds about the conclusion
of their "renewed investigation" into the facts surrounding the brutal
death of Matthew, before the investigation was even completed. 20/20 attempted
to change people's minds that the murder of Matthew was drug related rather
then a hate crime. This attempt at historical revisionism took place in
spite of the statements made by the cold blooded killers of Matthew themselves
at the time of their arrests admitting that homophobia was the motivational
factor in the crimes against Matthew's person. This is a Disney owned
company? A company that would collapse if its gay employees all walked
out? A company whose theme parks would not be able to open in the morning
without gay employees? How do I know this? I and my partner worked for
the Walt Disney Corporation in the late 1970's, and believe me when I
say, you could not swing a boa without hitting a good looking young gay
man. Gay men and women were the life's blood of the parks.

In the much enlightened state of Arkansas, it has been deemed "not to
be homophobic" by the author of a bill that has been introduced and probably
will pass, that bars gay couples from adopting. "This bill is not meant
to discriminate against gays," said Representative Bob Adams. Huh? Apparently
like the Roman Catholic Church, it is preferable to leave children languishing
in orphanages rather then go to a loving home where the child can be well
cared for and loved. Love, an ingredient so missing in so many of these
stories.

These are all recent news stories. This does not even take us back to
the first of this year. A common factor running through all these examples
besides the lack of love, is a cheapening of the value of gay life. It
is okay to kill a gay man if he makes a pass at you, although they do
frown about shoving bodies into suitcases and polluting the water with
the remains since that killer was also charged with the "tampering with
physical evidence."

But it is not only the cheapening of the life and death of gay people,
it is the downgrading of the essential equality of the American dream
that has taken place. It is a lack of respect for fellow human-beings
that is practiced by this administration, most of the churches who have
not seen the true light of the Gospels; and by the everyday man or woman
on many streets.

But I am not just mad at the ignorant, the fool hearty, the religious
fundamentalists of all faiths, the Republicans, both gay and straight,
but I am mad at the gay community for allowing this to happen to us after
all of the sacrifice and work that has gone before us. With millions of
us here in the United States with a recently reported gay buying power
of $610 billion dollars in the American economy, why do we allow this
nonsense to continue? Why can our concerns, our rights, and position in
society, and our very lives be deemed so unimportant that for a second
"state of the disunion" speech made by the current occupant of the White
House, that he can once again call for the relegation of the gay community
to a permanent second class status by using the most scared secular document
in the nation; our Constitution to further the agenda of the mean spirited,
ugly, capitalistic, war mongering centipedes called the republican majority
to attack the entire LGBT community, our friends, and families? Why do
we allow this? It is our fault for allowing it to happen. It is our fault
for not having national leadership in this community. It is our fault
for not having a national strategy to smack these upstart anti-American
pseudo-Nazis down with the back of our hands. We have become as complacent
as the Jews of Nazi Germany of the 1920's and early 1930's were, and we
saw what happened to them.

Never again.

Archbishop
Bruce J. Simpson, OSJB is the author of The Gay Face of God.
Contact him through OSJTB.ORG